A turn for the better

Wendy Cawley first learnt to deal with customers who had indulged in one too many when working as a dental nurse and receptionist.

Few people would imagine 13 years in dental care was any preparation for working as a pub landlady, but Wendy's customer skills are now being tested to the limit as she and her husband embark on a new career together as managers of a large Chef & Brewer pub restaurant.

Just four years ago, Wendy's husband Peers was an unfulfilled graduate of catering college, with a job in IT sales and marketing. Wendy had also reached an impasse in her dentistry career. Having worked as a receptionist, a dental nurse and in dental education, the only way she could further her career was by going back to school to do A levels to become a dentist.

Now, in the early days at the helm of their own pub restaurant, they have found their dream jobs. Despite the drawbacks, of which there are many, they wouldn't have it any other way.

Wendy and Peers were always critical of the pubs they visited as customers. "We would go out and say, if this was ours, we'd do it this way," says Wendy. So, four years ago they decided to realise their dreams and applied to Whitbread for pub management training.

At interviews, Wendy was the one who was put under the spotlight to see whether she realised what the job would entail. She had never even worked part-time in a pub.

"Having no experience at all was a barrier to getting into the trade. To be honest, the brewery tried its hardest to put me off and constantly pushed me on the hours I expected to work and the pressures," she recalls.

After completing 13 weeks' training with Whitbread, the couple spent the next year working relief shifts for other management teams. Then they were given their own pub on the outskirts of Manchester city centre. Then they progressed to a family pub outside Warrington, which served some food.

Then last year they discovered Scottish & Newcastle's Chef & Brewer concept. "The first time we walked into a Chef & Brewer we fell in love with it. It's catering for an adult market in a smart pub environment. For anyone interested in food and customer service it seems to be the only place," says Wendy.

So the couple applied to Scottish & Newcastle and moved into their own pub, the Didsbury, at the beginning of this year. The pub reopened last month under the Chef & Brewer name after extensive refurbishment.

"The pub has great potential: it's in the heart of Didsbury village but just six miles from Manchester city centre," says Wendy. Peers agrees: "It's a very vibrant area. Chef & Brewer will be an asset for the village as there are few places that serve food all day."

It was Chef & Brewer's balance of cask ales and high-quality food that attracted Peers. "The menu is particularly exciting because it's all driven by chalk boards," he says. There are up to 12 dishes on the menu each day, which are chosen by Peers and the chefs. In addition to the cask ales, many wines are served by the glass.

Up and running

Having just opened, the couple are working 12-hour days, managing a team of 30. They expect these long hours to continue for the foreseeable future, until the pub starts to find its rhythm.

Despite the pressure to always be front of house and convivial, it is possible to forget that you are working such hours, says Peers. "There are times when I don't realise I'm working. Unlike a nine-to-five job, work is not black and white," says Peers.

Wendy agrees: "Managing your own time is nice and I do not think I could go back to being behind a desk again."

Together the two are paid £29,500 a year and are provided with accommodation at the rear of the pub. Considering the hours the couple will put in this year, the remuneration appears small. But as Wendy points out, money is not their main incentive. "Most people do the job because they enjoy it, not because of the money. Otherwise you wouldn't stick it," she says.

Managers are given incentives to grow turnover through a bonus scheme, but at this stage in the pub's life-cycle it is too early to know how well sales will go. The one thing that will keep the couple going through the hard opening months is the thought of a tropical holiday in the Seychelles towards the end of the year. "For all the hard work we put in, that's one treat we allow ourselves," says Wendy.

But did Peers ever have any doubts that Wendy would make it in this business? He admits he did, and warns any couple to think twice about making the leap. "Before you take the plunge, take a long good look at your relationship and ask whether you could honestly spend all day with your partner," he suggests.

"It doesn't suit everybody and some people have packed up their whole lives to find it doesn't work."